Formula 1 saw McLaren return to the top of the podium at the Hungarian GP, but not even Lando Norris expected this turnaround to happen so soon. The Briton admitted that the team’s recovery exceeded his own expectations, after a season start marked by difficulties.
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This victory at Hungaroring was the first for Norris and McLaren in a GP in the 2026 season. The result came after the introduction of a comprehensive upgrade package on the MCL40, including a new floor, changes to the front and rear parts of the car, and revised brake ducts, allowing the driver to win by more than fifteen seconds over Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing, who finished P2.
The start of the championship, however, was far from expected for the current drivers’ and constructors’ champion. The team faced reliability issues with MGU-K failures on both cars in Shanghai, as well as Oscar Piastri’s crash during the reconnaissance lap in Melbourne. After two rounds, McLaren had only eighteen points and was already eighty behind Mercedes.
According to Norris, the team preferred not to create expectations during this period and focused their efforts on car development: “One thing I learned is not to create expectations about the future and just work in the present. That’s how we did everything as a team. That’s why we returned to the top in Hungary, working hard individually and also as a team,” he said.
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McLaren’s strategy was to keep the MCL40 practically unchanged in the first races to better understand the car’s behavior and its integration with the power unit, before introducing deeper changes. The team identified that the main weakness was in high-speed corners and directed development to correct this characteristic, having the Hungarian GP as the first major goal of this new path.
Even with the impressive result, Norris believes there is still work ahead: “I am optimistic about the future and think we can win more races, but we have strong competitors and there are still tracks where I am not confident, because the car is not yet at the necessary level in some areas. I was confident we could win a race, but it happened a little earlier than I imagined. I also trust that we will be able to improve the points that are still not good enough,” he added.
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